In an extension of its commitment to fund startups founded by black women entrepreneurs and all women of color, Fearless Fund announced its upcoming Fearless Venture Capital Week to be held virtually from August 23rd through the 29th. The gathering of top funding experts in venture capital, women of color entrepreneurs and the broader entrepreneurial community will focus on the underfunding of minorities and women.
Of the $130B in VC funding in 2018 only 2.2% went toward female-founded companies and less than 1% to businesses founded by women of color, according to studies by Fortune and GirlBoss. Those numbers are the basis of Fearless Fund’s mission—to fil the gap in venture capital funding for WOC-led scalable ventures. The founding leaders tout “Fearless Fund is built by women of color for women of color.”
Fearless Fund invests black women entrepreneurs and WOC-led startups seeking pre-seed, seed level or series A financing. Their commitment is based on findings that female founders perform 63% better on average than all-male founding teams, according to First Round Capital. Their portfolio includes: Hairbrella, Streamlytics, Capway, EnrichHER, CLEVR AI and others.
Fearless Venture Capital Week includes expert speakers, grants, giveaways, pitch competitions and more. Black women entrepreneurs and all Women of Color leading businesses will have an opportunity to learn about venture capital funding, while networking with business leaders and their entrepreneur peers. The goal is to recognize the greater potential of their startups that will begin to change the low historic rate of funding they receive.
